I Like your Shirt. I’ll Give You 20 Bucks for It!

My favorite kind of decorating involves taking ordinary items and making them look festive. For example, our ever famous train picture. I seem to post it all the time, not because I love it (although I do), but because it hangs over the fireplace in the main living area of our house and it’s just always there in the background….. watching us. Come to think of it, that kind of freaks me out.

Anyway, here’s what we did to make it Christmassy.

Notice the small red flower in the smokestack. I was not always so subtle in my Christmas decorating. In college, I would just make little Santa hats and put them on all the people in the photos in my apartment, The Lady of Shallot, my grandma, the dancing in the rain rich people who don’t give a hoot that their poor servants are freezing in the cold (I still love that picture).

I think it is time to share how I got the train picture. It is a super-cool street vendor creation using ordinary household/garagehold items to create a train. If you look closely, you’ll see the spark plugs, flashlights, keys, washers, hinges, etc.

Several months later, the couple was moving to a much smaller home on their way to retirement and wanted to get rid of a bunch of stuff. They told us to come by their garage sale and start thinking of stuff we wanted because it would probably be out there for sale.

I took this literally. So a few weeks later we were over for dinner, they were talking about the garage sale and I said, “If you sell that train picture at the garage sale, I’m calling dibs on it.”

They sort of looked at each other and said, “We….weren’t planning on selling it….”

Awkward silence.

Me: Oh, that’s cool. I was just kidding. We just really like it.

Nice Lady: I guess we could sell it to you if you really want it. Right, hubby? We don’t need that picture anymore. We’ve had it forever.

We left our free dinner that night with a $20 painting and a huge blank spot on the host’s wall. Have you ever gone into someone’s home, seen a wall-hanging or piece of furniture you like, pointed to it and said, “I like that! How much do you want for it?” Well I have. You should try it sometime. Then every time someone compliments you on the item once it’s in your home, you can tell them the story of how you got it……or I guess you could ask them to make an offer…..

I love the fact that I know who you’re talking about, and I love even more that my mom has done that! She gave me a ballet slipper poster thing that used to be some other girl’s poster. She told them she liked it, asked where they got it because she’d love to get one for me, and they took it off the wall and gave it to her. It still has the little holes in the corners from the pushpins.

The train made out of bits and parts reminds me of a little wall ornament at my grandparents’ house. It’s a fisherman made out of watch parts and is a perfect represenation of both of them – my grandfather is an avid fisherman, my grandmother fixed watches.

I know I want that when they pass away, but I haven’t hinted that strongly about it. Maybe I should bring some cash next time and give it a try? 😉

Love the part about people buying it back from you! SO great! Reminds me of the E-Bay commercial where the wife sells her ugly lamp and the buyer is her husband who thinks he is a hero for finding the matching lamp for his wife.

Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your blog. It always gives me a good laugh.

My college roommate, J, had a brother on a mission in Samoa, where if someone admires one of your possessions, it is customary to offer it to him. Every now and then she’d come into the room and say, “Let’s play Samoans. Hey Red, I really like your computer…” Red was not as culturally open as J was, though, so J never got the computer…